1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to winding devices and, more particularly, is concerned with a marker buoy winding apparatus and improved marker buoy used therewith.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Fishermen typically look for underwater structures, such as edges of submerged creek banks or drop offs, brush piles, old road beds, underwater bridges and the like, where fish are likely to congregate. When such structures are located, fishermen use marker buoys to temporarily mark their locations. After fishing the area, the fisherman will then remove the marker buoys. In a typical day of fishing, ten or more marker buoys may need to be dropped and retrieved.
The typical marker buoy used by fishermen has a body and a weight connected to the body by a flexible line which is wound about the body. Two configurations of marker buoys most commonly used by fishermen have a dumbbell-shaped body, such as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,653,085 to Rovner, and an H-shaped body, such as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,195,688 to Clemmons. Both of these marker buoy bodies have a pair of enlarged end portions connected by a central portion. The flexible tether line is connected at one end to and wound around the central portion of the body. When the body is placed on the surface of the water, the weight causes the body to rotate so as to unwind the tether line and allow the weight to sink in the body of water.
Rewinding the tether line onto the marker buoy body has been carried out heretofore both manually and mechanically. To manually rewind the tether line, the fisherman typically holds one of the enlarged ends of the body in one hand and winds the line about the central portion of the body using the other hand. This is time-consuming. In cold water conditions it is also extremely uncomfortable to reach into the water and reel up twenty to fifty feet or more of tether line by hand.
To mechanically rewind the line, the fisherman may use a separate winding device, such as disclosed in the above-cited Clemmons patent, or a rewinding device combined with the marker buoy, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,216 to Noggle and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,234,365 to Cooper et al. The separate winding device of the Clemmons patent employs a rotatable tubular member for containing one of the end portions and an electric motor for rotatably driving the tubular member and automatically winding the tether line back onto the central portion of the marker buoy body. The combined winding and marker buoy devices of the Noggle and Cooper et al patents respectively have manually and automatically operated reels mounted between buoyant side structures. The Clemmons, Noggle and Cooper devices represent steps in the right direction toward overcoming the drawbacks associated with directly manually gripping and rewinding the tether line.
However, it is perceived by the inventor herein that improvements are still needed in order to make the rewinding operation more efficient when using marker buoys having the aforementioned configurations.